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MUSEUM SELF - TRANSFORMATION … The Museum Building Itself is The New Permanent Exhibit

Golden Oldy Cyclery and Sustainability has its roots in bicycle history. It now has a broadened mission

spawning a New Permanent Exhibit which:

Projects a message for the times.

Cuts energy utility bills to negative numbers,

Cuts carbon footprints to less than nothing, providing carbon sequestration!

Requires no new galleries for its containment … the new gallery structures (as well as updated

old gallery structures) are the exhibit.

Marshall McLuhan is famous for his line: “The Medium is the Message”. This living exhibit extends the

concept of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s winning 2012 Brooking Paper, demonstrating

sustainability. To differentiate this effort, it is intermural and permanent as opposed to Cleveland’s

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extramural and temporary exhibit. This exhibit is the purposeful conversion of the Museum’s own

building (McLuhan’s “medium”) beyond PassivHaus energy standards to become “Carbon Negative” and

“Energy Positive”. The museum even achieves “Power Plant” status shipping dramatic volumes of

surplus power to the grid.

Happily, many museums have started on the trail to sustainability. In Colorado, the Denver Zoo, Denver

Botanic Gardens, and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS) have begun important

efforts. This trail to Sustainability is not short. It takes perseverance and commitment to pursue it to the

required result. The Golden Oldy intention is to elevate the bar to the necessary level for our eco –

circumstances reflecting, in the words of The Late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “the fierce urgency

of now.”

Housed in a 1970s residence, the Golden Oldy structure was built to the period’s poor energy efficiency

standards. The energy goal for this new permanent exhibit was to go far beyond “Net Zero” energy

consumption, while embracing (and satisfying) new extra-mural energy needs (transportation, food

production). The target audience encompasses both: 1) museum patrons and 2) the broader museum

community. This latter audience is important; it can potentially act as a megaphone spreading the message

through many “Action pulpit” museums worldwide, recognizing that “actions speak louder than words”.

We are past a point where we can afford to project the message “Do as I say, not as I do”.

Museums are constrained to meet their missions while operating within budget and doing “no damage”. It

is not traditional to consider a museum as a perpetrator of “damage” or “harm”. However, the built

environment has been credited with producing 70% of greenhouse gases globally. Museums have the

chance to go beyond being “Thought Leaders” to be “Action Leaders” setting very visible & lasting

operational examples of “good”. “If you are not part of the Solution, You are part of the Problem”….

Eldridge Cleaver.

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The Key Issue of Our Time is Climate Change. This is an “Inconvenient truth”. Left unchecked, the

coming natural holocaust will make all past holocausts pale. It will be non-sectarian. However it will be

economically and geographically discriminatory. This threat, unlike the 9-11 attack, and wars based upon

Nationalism, Religion, Sectionalism, Ethnicity or simple Ego/Greed comes slowly and acts continuously,

like the proverbial frogs warming pot on the stove. Its urgency cannot be seen from inside the system

without careful studies of volumes of data. Hence, there are many who deny.

Western civilizations and America particularly, grew up with a wealth of fossil fuels powering their

development. That abundance created ongoing “Business As Usual” expectations, without any:

Appreciation of the value or

Comprehension of the risks.

This blind deferral of consequences made short term planning seem “profitable” while the frog’s pot

slowly warmed.

The Grand Threat is that climate change will devastate our economy, society, and citizenry with droughts,

floods, super severe storms, & rising and acidifying seas. The current state of atmospheric degradation is

extreme. Greenhouse gas concentrations have grown from the 280 PPM CO2 level of the Holocene to the

current 400 PPM. This (if not reversed) will raise temperatures far more than 2 degrees Celsius, causing

dramatic melting of continental (Greenland and Antarctic) ice sheets, flooding vast coastal areas. At the

same time, desertification is spreading, reducing food production potentials for the growing world

populations. Famine & massive civil unrest cannot fail to follow.

The year 2012 showed us: Super Storm Sandy, Extreme Colorado Wild Fires, Major Crop Failures,

America’s Historically Highest Temperatures, and Dramatically Rising Food Prices. These are just local

examples of the consequences of messing with Mother Nature. See:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7ktYbVwr90.

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In the words of John Swigert on the Apollo 13: “… Houston, we’ve had a problem…”.

The problem has long been understood and was highlighted in the 1958 TV show: Bell Telephone

Science Hour. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-AXBbuDxRY . Golden Oldy’s Director

remembers watching the original airing in 1958.

The Unfortunate Reality is that even if all new business, industrial, cultural and residential construction

was to Net Zero Carbon or PassivHaus standards today, it would not start to solve the problem. We need

to convert the existing building stock to near Net Zero to stop perpetuating and extending atmospheric

damage.

The Golden Oldy Self-Challenge/ Exhibit had 3 objectives:

A) To teach sustainability with economically viable and replicable examples in a living museum

“laboratory”,

B) To set an example for other museums to publically convert to a “do no harm” operation, and

C) To apply the challenge in as many dimensions of operation as possible, including staff carbon

footprints.

The Elaborated Challenge:

1) Convert the Museum , Galleries and Library to be carbon negative.

2) Power The Museum complex from on-site, non-combustion based sources (sunshine)

3) Maintain winter comfort levels (Minimum: 65 / 62 degree F Day/Night).

4) Maintain summer comfort levels (Never over 75 degrees F).

5) House the Staff on site (no separate carbon footprints)

6) Power the Staff Electric Vehicles from Energy Harvested On Site

7) Feed the Staff from Permaculture Gardens/ Greenhouse on the Museum Grounds

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8) Run a Surplus of Site Produced Energy to feed back into the grid,

It is Axiomatic that “The Bicycle provides the most sustainable of all forms of human transportation.” It

is only appropriate that a Victorian Bicycle Museum lead in the Museum Sustainability Movement, to set

a new “Do No Harm” standard with transparency of process and results. The integration of the Bicycle

and Climate issues is demonstrated as the first bicycle exhibit when entering the new museum entrance,

through the passive solar addition:

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Here Santa pleads for climate sanity since his workshops are threatened by the melting of the polar ice

cap. This is his original 1884 Christmas Delivery Bicycle which Santa put aside in 1904 after the Wright

Brothers taught his reindeer how to fly.

The Unstated Generic Museum Mission is to EDUCATE, INFORM, ENTERTAIN, PROTECT, and

especially to PREPARE its community for the Future. Implicit in “PROTECT” is “To Do No Harm”.

Beyond these aspects, museums develop specialty missions based upon their foci.

The Generic Museum Challenge and Opportunity is to address the “unspoken” in their operation.

Traditional museum buildings often represent the worst in eco-operation. Even the best “LEED

Platinum”& “Energy Star” achieve only approximately 25% of the benefits which are really needed to

meet today’s environmental mandate. The museum’s physical structure is generally treated as a liability

(cost center) which (for a combination of historic and economic reasons) violates the generic mission

presented above. All museum buildings could become “eco-exhibits” providing tools for presenting

sustainability messages.

Like an alcoholic, philandering politician, or drug-abusing athlete, we need to look inside ourselves and

admit our issues. Then we must move forward to solve them, sharing our solutions. History awaits our

collective actions. We cannot, like the 5 (or 17) year old, claim: “But Mommy, everybody else does”.

Climate change does not “grade on the curve”! The physical sciences are tough task-masters.

The Golden Oldy Mission: The current mission is threefold:

1) To celebrate the glorious history, efficiency, technology, photography, literature, art, and poetry

of the world’s most sustainable transportation… the Bicycle.

2) To do so in the most sustainable museum possible, sharing the methods and motivations with the

world.

3) To inspire other museums as well as other institutions in society to actively engage their bully

pulpits, transforming them to become “Action pulpits” publically sharing their efforts & results.

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The Site is in Golden, Colorado at 5900 ft elevation with summer temperatures reaching 105 degrees F

and winter temperatures dropping to Minus 22 degrees F in 2011 (minus 48 degrees F in 1963).

The structure was built as a “2 by 4” frame, three bedroom ranch home, sited on a 0.19 acre lot. It

includes a walkout basement whose large family room provides the primary, of five bicycle display areas.

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Background on Golden Oldy Cyclery and Sustainability: The museum was formed in 2000 as “Golden

Oldy Cyclery”. It has earned international recognition in the antique cycling world. In the wider press, it

received a mention in the Oct/Nov 2012 Mother Earth News article “8 Great Places You’ve (Maybe)

Never Heard Of”. Three times it has been the subject of local network affiliated TV coverage on site and

has provided “Color content” off site with static and dynamic displays for many more TV broadcasts.

With growing staff ecological awareness, efforts to reduce the museum carbon footprint accelerated in

2006. Along with the physical transformation, the museum name was extended to include the word

“Sustainability”.

The initial museum collections fell into 4 main categories:

1) Over 60 Pre-1900 bicycles (48 Penny Farthings) and 2 rare 1876 Ladies High Wheel Tricycles,

2) Galleries including 260 framed Pre-1900 (primarily Colorado) cycling images, day lit by Sun Tunnels.

3) Extensive Victorian Bicycle Memorabilia and Accessories, and

4) A 120,000 page library of Pre-1900 published bicycle Journals & Volumes.

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The Museum Web Site (www.goldenoldy.org):

A) Highlights the collections,

B) Presents a study of Victorian Cycling Poetry with wave file readings of samples from the 16

sub-genres identified by the Golden Oldy staff, (http://www.goldenoldy.org/poetry.htm ); and

C) Links to modern Victorian Cycling Journeys by museum staff in support of the museum

Motto: “Cycle Recycled Cycles”.

(http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/index.html?o=1&doc_id=1336&v=6P ).

The primary display room provides a complete mock 1889 Bicycle Shop.

With the broadened scope of the museum to include sustainability, the collections now include sample

cross sections of super-insulated walls, sample cores of energy exchange ventilators, displays on the

history of Oil over the last 15 decades, photo documentation of the step by step conversion of the

museum, and journals and books on Climate, Energy, & Efficient structures.

The Museum Slogan is “The World is a Happier Place when you Ride a Penny Farthing Bicycle!”

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The Museum’s Bicycle Messages: The bicycle is/was:

1) A tool of Social Justice. It was crucial to the women’s liberation.

2) The primary Mechanical Engineering Focus of the late 19th century.

3) The precursor for the automobile and airplane.

4) The first “around the world” vehicle by land (Thomas Stevens 1884 – 1886).

5) Environmentally clean transportation.

6) A means for Healthful physical activity.

The basic approach to energy renovation can be paraphrased as “Catch it and Keep It”. This refers to

catching the available solar, geothermal, hydro, or wind power, and retaining the energy once captured in

an airtight, well insulated building envelope. The energy “banking” has intentionally been shifting from a

“2 currency” approach (Electricity and Natural Gas) to a nearly single currency (renewable electric).

Work continues.

The adopted “Passive” energy strategies include both “Passive Solar” (solar space heating) and

“PassivHaus” (Super-sealing and Super-insulation):

1) An aggressive air sealing effort was instituted to stop convective heat gain/ heat loss. This was a

staff “nibble project” over several years.

2) An aggressive insulation program was also instituted to reduce conductive heat gain / heat loss

(Ceilings are retrofitted to between R-60 and R-100; Walls to between R-50 and R-104, some

indoors, some outside, some both). All work “post-architected” and performed by staff. Pictures

here show insulation additions of R-54 inside and R-39 outside.

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3) Windows were replaced with Low-E triple glazed units supplemented with cellular window

shades at night to reduce radiant heat loss.

4) The 1970’s gas heating was upgraded from a 60% to a 95.5% efficient design. It will soon

become totally redundant and be removed.

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5) An “Energy Exchange Ventilator” complements the insulation and sealing efforts.

6) Daylighting efforts include 7 Large Sun Tunnels (22 & 14 inch) and glazed floors/ceilings/roofs.

These are complemented by LED bulbs.

7) Water heating was converted from Natural Gas to Solar Powered Electric Heat Pump.

8) Water management techniques stretch the bounds of antiquated Colorado statute.

9) All entrances have had “Air Lock” additions … like Jules Verne’s Nautilus and the Space Shuttle.

10) Most of the air locks were designed as Passive Solar Additions. These total 8 rooms and 1000 sq.

ft. and over 650 sq ft of Solar Collection surfaces to take advantage of winter sunshine. They

were built using over 90% recycled, surplus, and otherwise inexpensively available quality

materials. Staff did the planning, scavenging, re-planning and drafting of the requisite permit

applications. Also, staff, with a neighbors expert carpentry help, did the construction.

11) All added solar spaces provide second functionalities:

Museum Conference Room:

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Bicycle Restoration Workshop with integral indoor Dwarf Citrus Orchard

Air-lock serving as “daily usage” bicycle garage / winter sports equipment room

Solar Plenum also serving as Solar Food Preservation Center.

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Greenhouse with “Climate Battery” and water based thermal mass

Staff Gymnasium (5 recycled machines from Goodwill) with Solar Envelope Wall

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Air Lock to greenhouse serving as a Potting Room for Gardens and providing water based

Thermal Mass for aiding temperature stabilization.

Solar Clothes Drying Envelope

Moving from Structure to Grounds:

1) Permaculture gardens and dwarf orchards replace lawn areas providing 22 vegetable varieties, 12

grape vines, and 8 dwarf fruit trees (with 28 varietal grafts).

2) The garden soils (outdoors & inside the greenhouse) were heavily amended with Bio Char,

Alpaca Poo and Peat Moss.

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Additionally, Photovoltaic panels provide active solar collection with a roof mounted 10,000 watt array.

A video tour is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3jvittg60I

The Results are dramatic in many dimensions:

1) Tour request for the museum sustainability aspect have risen to exceed the antique bicycle

interest.

2) Many energy focused organizations (National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Sandia

National Laboratories, the Illinois Institute of Technology, and others) have requested (and

received) presentations on the museum’s energy transformation. Also papers have been given at

“Solar 2011”, “World Renewable Energy Forum 2012” (WREF) and many other venues.

3) At WREF, former Colorado Governor Ritter (Who originated the term “New Energy Economy”

in 2005) presented the Colorado Renewable Energy Society’s award “Best Residential Energy

Renovation” to Golden Oldy Cyclery & Sustainability, with CRES’s Executive Director Lorrie

McAllister assisting.

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4) After 10 years of incremental efforts, the structure’s annual energy and carbon footprint are

dramatically reduced even while supporting new power loads for new functionalities. The

following charts show the energy/ climate improvements since 2000.

For 2012, only 63 Therms of natural gas were consumed. This is a reduction from 1095 therms in

2002.

For 2012, over production of ~ 7,500 KWH of electricity was shipped to the grid. The recent

decline in surpluses reflects converting staff autos to Electric Plug in versions, reducing gasoline

usage.

0

1000

2000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Annual Usage

Years 2000 through 2012

Natural Gas Usage Per Year - Therms

-10000

-5000

0

5000

10000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Net KWH Per Year Used /

Surplus

From Year 2000 Through 2012

Electricity Usage Per Year - KWH

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In 2012, we sequestered over 6.5 tons of atmospheric carbon.

In 2007 the structure crossed over to Eco - friendly… “Doing no harm” level.

Scaling and Location Issues: Many have asserted “But my building is Too Big / Too Small” (pick one).

We emphatically reject the contention that “Size Matters”. Ours was not the Goldilocks “Just Right” size.

Also, we definitely are not in a Goldilocks climate (records: -48 degrees to 105 degrees).

It is all a matter of Awareness, Heart, Priorities, and “Intention”.

In summary, to host a museum is a trust and a privilege. In the words of Noam Chomsky:

"The more privilege you have, the more opportunity you have. The more opportunity you have,

the more responsibility you have."

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0

10

20

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Net Tons Per Year Emitted / Sequestered

Year 2000 Through 2012

CO2 Emissions per Year - Tons

-40000

-20000

0

20000

40000

60000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Energy Usage Measured at Well

Head / Mine

Year 2000 Through 2012

Source BTUs per Sq Ft per Year

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As Andrew Carnegie said, there is a duty to provide “lasting and permanent good”. In doing that, the Air

Force Motto “AIM HIGH” provides guidance. Token efforts do not qualify. Robert Kennedy stated:

“There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask “why?”... I dream of things that never were,

and ask “why not?”” Gandhi said “Be the change which you want to see in the world.” None of these

approaches are “Business as usual”. They are not profit driven. They are human and Earth focused. Yet

they are affordable and will yield a good rate of return in energy savings. The greatest rate of return,

however, will be in generation savings. At this time in human history, with runaway population, severely

depleted natural resources, atmospheric and marine destruction, and major loss of species on the planet,

we need to adopt the Japanese SATOYAMA, or “living in harmony with nature”. Museums have a

prominent place in society to lead by providing examples of permanent, intentional, & effective Action.

Steve Stevens

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Steve Stevens, Director

Golden Oldy Cyclery & Sustainability

17224 West 17th Place

Golden, Colorado 80401-2509

goldenoldy.org

720-497-1100 oldbike2@comcast.net